Telangana Assembly today witnessed pandemonium on the controversial Polavaram Ordinance withdrawal issue. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao proposed a resolution demanding that the Centre withdraw the ordinance to protect the interests of the tribals in seven Khammam mandals allotted to Andhra Pradesh State. He sought cooperation from all political parties in the 119-member House.
The House witnessed chaos for some time as TDP leader S V Veeraiah said had then MP KCR had opposed the Polavaram project when the Centre was dealing with the issue in Parliament, Telangana State would not have faced the Ordinance problem now. This led to an altercation between TDP and TRS members. Intervening, the Chief Minister advised the TDP members to stop making politics and give their views on withdrawal of ordinance.
When the TDP leader failed to budge, Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao tried to convince him. He recalled they had sacrificed their ministerial posts during the YSR regime for protecting the Polavaram tribal villages, besides moving Supreme Court.
In the meanwhile, Speaker Madhusudhana Chary denied permission to TDP floor leader Erraballi Daykar Rao and his deputy Revanth Reddy, who wanted to talk. BJP floor leader Chintala Ramachandra Reddy said Bhadrachalam division was with West Godavari in 1956 and hence Andhra Pradesh Government now wants to get back those seven mandals. “However, we will extend support to the TRS Government to fight with the Centre for withdrawal of the ordinance”, he added.
Earlier, KCR said withdrawal of the ordinance would help Telangana get its 450 MW Lower Sileru Power Project besides getting natural resources. He also made it clear that his Government would take an all-party delegation to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Presidnet Pranab Mukherjee in this regard. The Chief Minister said Modi assured him of necessary action during Parliament session as the ordinance was not final when he called on the latter in Delhi recently.
The session witnessed heated arguments among TRS and TDP leaders. Earlier, the House in unison extended support to the TRS Government in its efforts to press the Centre to withdraw Polavaram Ordinance allotting seven tribal mandals of Khammam district to Andhra Pradesh State. All parties, including the main Opposition Congress, BJP, AIMIM, YSRCP, CPI and CPM supported it with some suggestions.(NSS)
